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Topic: Looking for electronics help (Read 1993 times)

So i bought an incubator online for cheap cash. After cleaning it up and checking it out the only thing i cant fix is the LED indicator. Its not very important but considering it should be a cheap fix why not.

The guts of the incubator

The Dead LED in question.

I dont see any marking on the LED or resistor. Can anyone guide me through figuring out correct replacements? The incubator has the following info on the back. 120 volts .2 Ampts 24 watts 50/60 Hz and 1 Phase.

Cheers,Jeff

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Granite Coast Brewing Company.Building a clone of The Electric Brewery to use as a pilot system for new recipes!

Are these Neon bulbs still made? if so is there a "type" of neon bulb that it would be called that i could search for? Ill just replace the neon if putting an LED onto this system will be a pain. Im going to stop at radio shack and pick up a few LED's and a resistor to try with it either way. i think 1k will do it.

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Granite Coast Brewing Company.Building a clone of The Electric Brewery to use as a pilot system for new recipes!

Are these Neon bulbs still made? if so is there a "type" of neon bulb that it would be called that i could search for? Ill just replace the neon if putting an LED onto this system will be a pain. Im going to stop at radio shack and pick up a few LED's and a resistor to try with it either way. i think 1k will do it.

You'll also need a diode to rectify the current, and keep in mind that even at 20 mA, 120 V is 2.4 W… Radio Shack probably doesn't have anything big enough, at least not in stores.

Do you measure 120V at the the light? Just asking to be sure that it is a 120V connection and not being dropped somewhere else in the circuit.

Paul

I attempted to use a multimeter on it, i believe it spiked to 3volts as i watched but im not 100% sure i was using the multimeter correctly. this was with prong on the wire before the bulb and the other on the ground wire. gonna watch a few youtube vids tonight to make sure i was using it correctly and try again

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Granite Coast Brewing Company.Building a clone of The Electric Brewery to use as a pilot system for new recipes!

Do you measure 120V at the the light? Just asking to be sure that it is a 120V connection and not being dropped somewhere else in the circuit.

Paul

I attempted to use a multimeter on it, i believe it spiked to 3volts as i watched but im not 100% sure i was using the multimeter correctly. this was with prong on the wire before the bulb and the other on the ground wire. gonna watch a few youtube vids tonight to make sure i was using it correctly and try again

Measure the voltage between the 2 big wires (around the resister and the bulb) and you should see the total volts in the circuit (assuming the bulb is blown). With the power off you can check if the resister is good and then if the bulb is blown.

Many years ago I some bulbs that looked like the one in your picture and they ran in a 120V circuit. Unfortunately, that was 35 years ago and I can imagine I still have them. 8^(

Measure the voltage between the 2 big wires (around the resister and the bulb) and you should see the total volts in the circuit (assuming the bulb is blown). With the power off you can check if the resister is good and then if the bulb is blown.

First of all, make sure the multi-meter is set to an AC voltage range of at least 120V, not DC. When measuring the voltage between the 2 big wires as suggested by Slowbrew, if you get 120VAC then power is getting to the bulb/resistor combo, otherwise power is not getting that far (i.e. the problem lies somewhere else). If the power is getting to the bulb/resistor combo, carefully measure the voltage across the two leads of the neon bulb. If it reads 120 VAC then the bulb is dead, otherwise I would suspect the resistor (or both).

It looks like Radio Shack has 120V mini-neon lamps - that might be your easiest fix. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like the assembly may include the resistor internally.

It is not exactly what you currently have but it should work. This unit is rated at 110VAC so I think it should replace the existing bulb and resistor. There are other mini-neon lamps in different colors.